Asked in Family Law for Georgia

Q: One child lives with him and one with her. She agreed to cancel cs. What is the proper steps needed to achieve this?

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1 Lawyer Answer
Eric J. Garber
Eric J. Garber
Answered
  • Augusta, GA
  • Licensed in Georgia

A: It depends. If the parties are divorced (or the father legitimated any children born out of wedlock) and an original custody order as to the children has already been established whereby one parent had custody of both children, one parent will need to file a modification action against the other parent seeking to make the new custody arrangement (i.e., one child with mother, one child with father) an order of the Court. In that same modification action, the parties can also request that Child Support also be modified to account for this new custody arrangement. If there is already a custody order in place that lines up with the current custody arrangement (i.e., the Court ordered that the mother have one child and the father have the other), then one parent will still need to file a modification action, but it will only need to seek to modify child support.

Either way, it is critical that you speak with a local family law attorney who can help you get what you want, as there are specific legal requirements related to child support obligations. As you may be aware, each parent's basic child support obligation is set by statute based upon the parents' collective gross income (i.e., there is a specific Georgia statute setting forth a schedule/spreadsheet of what each parent "should" pay based on their income and the income of the other party). The parties, however, can negotiate "deviations" to cut down on this statutory-based "basic" child support obligation. Note, however, that the Court reviews any deviations requested by the parents with a fine-toothed comb, and is liable to kick out any requested deviations if they are not adequately supported or are otherwise improper. As such, it is critical to speak with a family law attorney who can help the parents achieve their goals of reducing the child support obligations each one may face.

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